Muza, on returning to the East, is said to have drawn near to Damascus with a train of thirty waggons full of Spanish silver, gold, and precious stones. Tarik ben Ziyed, marching in triumph through the land, secured at Cordova, Amaya, and other towns and capitals, enormous store of "pearls, arms, dishes, silver, gold, and other jewels in unprecedented number." One object, in particular, is mentioned with insistency by nearly all the chronicles, both Mussulman and Christian. Quoting from the _Pearl of Marvels_ of Ibn Alwardi, this was "the table which had belonged to God's prophet, Solomon (health be to both of them). It was of green emeralds, and nothing fairer had been ever seen before. Its cups were golden and its plates of precious jewels, one of them specked with black and white." All manner of strange things are said about this table, though most accounts describe it as consisting of a _single_ emerald. Perhaps it was of malachite, or of the bright green serpentine stone extracted formerly as well as nowadays from the Barranco de San Juan at Granada, and several other spots in Spain. Bayan Almoghreb says it was of gold mixed with a little silver and surrounded by three gold rings or collars; the first containing pearls, the second rubies, and the third emeralds. Al-Makkari describes it as "green, with its 365 feet and borders of a single emerald." Nor is it known for certain where this "table" fell into the hands of Tarik. Probably he found it in the principal Christian temple at Toledo--that is to say, the Basilica of Santa María. Ibn Alwardi says that in the _aula regia_, or palace of the Visigothic kings, the lancers of the Moorish general broke down a certain door, discovering "a matchless quantity of gold and silver plate," together with the "table." Doubtless this strong room was the same referred to in the following lines. "It was for ever closed; and each time that a Christian king began to reign he added to its door a new and powerful fastening. In this way as many as four and twenty padlocks were gathered on the door."